Combination statement and collection record.



PATENTED MAE. 2l,` 1905.

M. M'. COHN. y COMBINATION STATEMENT AND COLLECTION RECORD APPLICATION FILED MAY 5, 1904.

miki. Linn :Iran raox tamrxurtkrn.

Snow/tbz Ig .Cw

.2353@ E23: .oU Emumhm. Nw 9C.

NITED STATES Patented March 21, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

MAX M. CCHN, or, sAN ERANCIsCo,` CALIFORNIA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 785,291, dated March 21, 1905.

Application led May 5, 1904. Serial. No. 206.481.

7'0 all whom it may con/cern:

Be it known that I, MAX M. CoHN, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and County of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Combination Statement and Collection Records, of which the following is a speciiication.

My invention relates to a system of issuing statements, collecting accounts, and keeping a Y record of the same for the use of business houses.

It is usual for firms to prepare statements of account with their local customers and send these out by collectors on certain days and to their country customers to mail statements. Under present methods an -immense amount of labor is entailed on the office forceV on these constantly recurrent occasions by the necessity, after going through the ledgers and making out all due and discount statements, of having to enter up these statements separately in the collection-book before sending them out with the collector and on his return to segregate the various unpaid accounts according to the oral or hastily-noted reasons given by the collector on which payment was deferred or refused for the future use of the credit-man.

The object of the present invention is to provide a time-and-labor-saving system which does away with the need of separately entering up the statements in the collectors books, aifords a means for rapidly and intelligently noting memoranda, and assists in the bookkeeping and in the general supervision of accounts requiring attention.

The invention consists of the parts and the construction and combination of parts, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l represents a pad .with an ordinary statement-blank alternating with my city-collection record. Fig. 2 shows city-collection record ofthe form employed in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows the statement in combination with the collection-record when odd-size statement is used. Fig. 4. shows the same statement as Fig. 3 separately. Fig. 5 shows a countrycollection record.

A represents any suitable form of blank statement having the usual heading' and ruled r dress, a ruled space 4 for the account proper,

and an intermediate space 5, having advisory notation Setting forth the several reasons for non-payment or character of payment, 85e.,

the rulings for the name and the statement of A account on the two sheets registering and the intermediate printed space on the blank B corresponding to the space on the statement-sheet A generally occupied with the name of the iirm sending out the statement, address, and other matter. A

. The record-blanks are preferably of diierent color from the regular statements to avoid any possible confusing of the two.

In Fig. 3 is shown a style of blank adapted for use with all sorts and sizes of statements. In this case the blank comprises a plain sheet of paper with a marginal space set oi for the legend in connection with the presentation and collection of the account. Preferably this marginal space is to the right side of the sheet, leaving the blank space of suiicientwidth to be covered by the statement. In case the statement is narrower than the record-blank the latter may be trimmed to suit. If desired, the statements and blanks may be bound up in pad form, the imprinted margin of the blank extending beyond the edge of the statement.

In practice statements are written with an indelible pencil or type-written, and a carbon copy is simultaneously made on the special record-blank. The statements and duplicates having been properly made out the former are mailed or delivered, while the latter are retained for future use and guidance. The

IiOO

out, so that they may be easily and quickly reassembled in the same order after their return from the .various collectors hands. The copies are then segregated according to the several routes, placed in temporary binders, and taken out by the collectors on collection day. It will be observed that these temporarily-bound copies form a collection-book in lieu of the old-stylecollection-book,which had to be separately written up before acollector started out on his rounds.

If a statement is paid, the collector makes his entry in a space 7, set apart for this purpose, which shows the amount and discount and also indicates whether the account was settled for in coin or by check.

If any changes are made on the statementI by the customer, the collector, having an exact facsimile, makes the same change on his copy. This gives the ledger-clerk the correct infor- .mation, which under the old system is very diflicult to arrive at owing to many collectors being incompetent to make proper memoranda.

In case of non-payment the collector indicates the reason therefor by a suitable mark opposite the proper one of the many printed possible reasons in space 5 or 5.

)n the return of the copies to the oiiice those that are paid are separated from those unpaid, the former rearranged consecutively accord- `ing to the numbering in space 6 and entered in the cash-book. Being in the same order as the accounts in the ledger, posting is greatly facilitated. The data noted in space 5 or 5' as to the unpaid accounts form the basis for future action in respect to these accounts. For out-of-to'wn accounts a record-blank Fig. 5, is used of essentially the same character, but having notation suiting it to the difference in prevailing conditions. rlhe carbon copies are retained, and each indicates exactly what was done with the statement.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. A combination statement and collecting record comprising independent members arranged in succession with alternate members constituting the original or customers statement-blank and the other member constituting the merchants filing-blank, said original blank printed in the usual manner with reserved spaces for the name and for the account and said filing-blank having reserved spaces registrable with the corresponding spaces of the original blank and having thereon in permanent form a variety of legal excuses of selective character any one or more of which may be resorted to by the collector to indicate the disposal of the original statement.

2. A combination statement and collection account comprising original and duplicate sheets, said original sheet printed in the usual manner and said duplicate sheet having areas registrable with the name and account spaces of the original, and said duplicate blank having, also, in permanent form a variety of legal excuses any one or more of which may be resorted to by the collector to indicate the disposal of the account.

3. A combination statement and collection record comprising original and duplicate sheets, said original sheet having a reserved area suitably designated for the customers name, 'a reserved area designated for the account and an intermediate area printed with the merchants name, and said duplicate sheet having reserved areas registrable with the said areas of the original sheet which are designated for tlie customers name and the account and having, also, an area registrable with the said intermediate area of the original sheet, provided with notation in permanent form which is resorted to by the collector to indicate the disposal of the account.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto Set my .hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MAX M. COHN. 

